Modern theater – is a very complex and multifaceted phenomenon. A variety of theaters can now meet the needs of virtually any intellectual and social strata of society. Such theatrical genre as musical combines the “high” and “low” culture, reflected the public sentiment shades of different social strata, combined many elements of modern theater, and at the same time updated the classics, making it popular in a wide viewers environment. This is just one of the processes of attracting the unprepared viewer to theater arts. Important role in this also is played by the media.
Following the ideology of postmodernism as one of the landmarks of modern culture, the theater incorporates many of the features of previous trends. The general mentality of the era, namely disenchantment in the past, entails it to ironic rethinking of the past, and to rethink (Senelick, 2000). Following the post-modernism, theater culture also begins to play with the audience in mind games, using a variety of forms, ranging from social and political to purely creative and “laboratory” (Mudasir, 2011).
The changes taking place in different areas of modern theatrical culture, make impact on the state of its genres and genre systems. At the thesaurus approach to contemporary theater culture notion of genre generalizations seems convenient. This means a process of unification, the contraction of genres (often belonging to different species and genera of art) to implement non-genre (usually topical) general principle (Mudasir, 2011). So genre generalization of modern theatrical culture formed on the principle of amplification of genre experiments (i.e. before the peripheral genres of theater) for the implementation of the principles of a new kind of dialogue of the theater and the audience. The fact is that namely a method of interaction of the stage and the audience determines the nature of the viewer's empathy and thereby establishes genre of the show. In addition, the viewer loses faith in traditional branded theaters and goes behind that wave of interest that arises in the blogosphere, in theatrical criticism, in the discussions.
Another very important feature of modern theater is attention to the inner world, complex mental collisions, psychology of modern man. Modern theater not only reflects life, but also pays close attention to the inner world of modern man. Moreover, an important process of the past decades in the theater is decanonization. Antique viewer did not know what the curtain is and did not imagine a theater without a choir. Wagner's contemporaries did not perceive opera performance without ballet. Today stereotypes must be cast out. Normative in the theater no longer exists. Canon of theatrical utterance is absent. Each director is building with the audience his own “rules of the game” (Senelick, 2000).
It is hard not to notice the contribution of the United States black population in the development of new genres. After all, the first musical that appeared long before the heyday of Broadway, in 1896, is considered to be a theatrical performance “Clorinda - Kikuoka country”. On the production exclusively African-Americans worked, and it is based on the popular at the turn of the century ragtime. Special colouring of the musical is due to universally used jargon, bright costumes and scenery.
The history of African-American dance also played an important role in shaping the modern look to the theater. Small city theaters have identified themselves as a source of innovations, regional ones reserved the role of the major centers of theatrical life. Success in the theater played an important role in the promotion of the black dance and its performers. The success raised the bar for black and white performers. For the first time, the white population began to imitate the dance that they have seen. “The Creole Show” presented to white audience dancing called “easy walk” (DeFrantz, 2005). In addition to the reviving theater, African-American dance moved to the clubs, and Harlem was the center of promotion of the dance in clubs. In the 1920s and 30s art, music, literature and dance experienced a renaissance in African-American culture. Famous clubs such as the Cotton Club, were the centers of the dance movement where African-American community experimented with dance styles such as swing, lindy hop and charleston. In the 1940s and 50s, African-Americans have begun to participate in ballet and contemporary dance. Dancers and anthropologists Katherine Duncan and Pearl Primus learned to dance in Africa and the Caribbean. They brought in dance techniques they have learned in America in modern dance classes. These methods have influenced many contemporary dance styles. White and black choreographers began to massively use the moves of African styles and African- Aerican dancers in their performances.
The pride of the United States ballet is a dance troupe of Alvin Ailey. Many experts call this the troupe legendary one, and one-act ballets - magical, diamond for at all times. (DeFrantz, 2005). Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) began as a repertory company consisted of 7 dancers, dedicated its activity both to modern dance classics and new works created by Alvin Ailey and other young choreographers. Rave reviews about the company's first concerts in the years 1958-1960 marked the beginning of a new era in dance performances dedicated to African-American theme.
The premiere performance of “Revelations” (1960) once glorified dance company of Alvin Ailey as the first interpreter of the African-American experience. Taking as musical basis a series of favorites spirichuels and gospels processed by Brother John Sellers, “Revelations” depicted series of Negro religious ceremonies, including rich sculptural images of a group prayer (“I've Been Buked”), the ceremony of baptism ritual (“Wade in the Water”), the moment of Communion (“I Wanna Be Ready”), duet of the trust and support for the priest and parishioner (“Fix Me, Jesus “), and the finale - a solemn singing of the gospel (“Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham”). Several dances of Alvin Ailey set a precedent in American dance. “Feast of Ashes” (1962), created for the company Harkness Ballet, is recognized as the first successful production of the ballet “en pointe” in the style of modern (Dunning, 1996).
Ballet experts say how accurately Ailey’ ballet manages to show the spirit of African-American Culture (DeFrantz, 2005). At this, not only black dancers, bit also representatives of other races work in the troop. Ailey dance ballet offers a different look at the art. Artists combine classical choreography with completely non-classical dance genres: rock and roll, hip-hop, spirituals. In addition, Alvin Ailey glorified his ballet by his favorite jazz productions. Active learning of dance history, diverse repertoire of the company, according to Alvin Ailey, was the impetus to preserve modern dance, in order to understand where it came from and how it will develop, and for encouraging of the audience to participate in the process (Dunning, 1996).
Interestingly, at the time a young Alvin Ailey took over much from Russian artists. At 27 years old he saw a performance of “Monte Carlo Russian Ballet”, and later successfully worked in the studio of Anna Sokolova. Russian motives are felt the naked eye in the theater of Ailey. Russian Ballet School is felt literally in every movement: in height of jumping, plastic, clarity of execution elements. In 1970, Alvin Ailey came to Moscow with the production “The River” and became the first American dance artist since Isadora Duncan, who visited Russia (Dunning, 1996).
In 1969, Alvin Ailey created Alvin Ailey American Dance Center School to teach students the history of the art of ballet and modern dance. In 1989, Dance Foundation Inc., overseeing the organizations AAADT and Ailey School initiated a program of Ailey Camps, aimed at “improving self-esteem, creative expression and critical thinking skills in dance” (DeFrantz, 2005). The legacy of Alvin Ailey dance to the world is in the possibility of free choice between ballet, jazz dance and social dance for maximum expression of human nature in motion, necessary for a suitable theatrical moment.
Thus, the contemporary theater in its diversity and openness to different, yesterday seemed impossible, “alien” forms and techniques, now once again becomes a point of contemporary interest of both professionals and the public. This theater, which stepped the 20th century, all radically goes beyond the precise definitions and genres, but it is not about a synthetic art, and what is the essence of the theater - a living space of communication. In other words, the theater regains its ancient meaning and sound – if not the forum, then field of private dialogue and human freedom acquired through it.
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Works Cited
DeFrantz, Thomas. Composite Bodies of Dance: The Repertory of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Theater Journal, 2005, Vol.57, No4, pp. 659-678. Print.
Dunning, J. Alvin Ailey: a life in dance. New York: Addison-Wesley, 1996. Print.
Mudasir, Mufti. Language, Character and History in Postmodern Drama: Towards Formulating a Poetics. The Criterion: An International Journal in English, 2011, Vol. II, Issue III, pp. 1-10. Print.
Senelick, Laurence. The Changing Room: Sex, Drag and Theatre. Gender in Performance. London/New York: Routledge, 2000. Print.
